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Langdridge, Darren
(2005).
URL: http://web.archive.org/web/20060925052010/http://w...
Abstract
This paper examines the ways in which a divided self may be actively cultivated for thrill in sadomasochistic scenes. In The Divided Self Laing (1959/1990) presents an existential theory of schizophrenia and personal alienation describing a process where there is a separation of self/body amongst the ontologically insecure outsider. Whilst Laing’s theory concerns an experience of deep despair, van Deurzen-Smith (1991) argues that the theory should be reconceptualised as a way of understanding the existential anxiety common to all human experience rather than just the extreme experience of psychosis. In this paper I draw on some of Laing’s ideas to look at the way in which the splits between the self/body might be deliberately cultivated during sadomasochistic sex scenes amongst ontologically secure individuals. In addition, I explore the ways in which ‘petrification’ (Laing, 1959/1990) and ‘the look’ (Sartre, 1943/2003) might also be key parts of the sadomasochistic experience.
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- Item ORO ID
- 8372
- Item Type
- Journal Item
- ISSN
- 1467-2472
- Academic Unit or School
-
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) > Psychology and Counselling > Psychology
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) > Psychology and Counselling
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) - Copyright Holders
- © 2005 Not known
- Related URLs
-
- http://oro.open.ac.uk/44129/(Publication)
- Depositing User
- Darren Langdridge